Good post. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
As I see it, the problem with Finn and those in the party who are of the same mind on illegal immigration is that they don't really live with the problem. It's purely an intellectual discussion to them.
Do you think John McCain has illegals next door? Do you think Chester Finn and Bill Kristol, soon after pulling out of their driveways, pass by swarms of illegal immigrants hanging on the corner seeking work, where they can be seen doing things that to put it nicely, make people say "there goes the neighborhood?"
It's so easy to favor an open borders policy when you never come face to face with what it really means.
Of course you are right. It is easy to embrace something, especially something given the PC-seal of approval, if your own life is never negatively affected by that something.
What continues to puzzle me is how otherwise intelligent people like Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes, Michael Barone, and WSJ editorial writers, fail to see the political/demographic consequences of unending mass immigration. The GOP -- a conservative GOP that is -- only has a chance with immigrants that are thorougly assimilated, and assimilation is easier with lower levels of immigration. How these guys actually think the GOP can even break even with the current wave of immigration is a mystery to me. It makes me wonder if they really believe the things they say.